By CYNTHIA BIDDLECOMB“The Hundred Foot Journey” is a sweet, visually pleasing film that will make you wish you could enjoy aromas and flavors in movies.
The story is about the Kadam family from Mumbai, India, coming to Europe to escape the political turmoil in which they lost their restaurant as well as the wife and mother of the family. The family consists of Papa, played by Om Puri (The Ghost and the Darkness; Charlie Wilson’s War), Hassan played by Manish Dayal (90210; The Good Wife), Mansur; Mahira,Mukthar and Aisha.
Movie poster for ‘The Hundred Foot Journey.’ Courtesy/Reel Deal Theater
Having tried living near London, the family passes through immigration (perhaps in Amsterdam), explaining why they have come—a nice vehicle for the backstory to be told, as each answers the questions of a different passport agent. When Mahira is asked directly if she is by chance immigrating for an arranged marriage, she tells the officer, “Nothing in this family is arranged.” With this laugh, we begin to identify with the family and are deeply moved by the scene where they last see their mother.
Looking for somewhere to settle, the whole family eventually drives over the border from Switzerland into the south of France. Fortuitously, the brakes fail on their van outside a lovely village in France, the real St. Antonin-Noble-Val, where a young woman from the village, Marguerite, played by Charlotte Le Bon (Mood Indigo; Yves Saint-Laurent) uses her jeep to tow them into to town. She takes the family to her home and feeds them healthy local produce. It turns out she is a sous-chef.
On the way into town, as they were being towed, Papa saw a for sale sign on an old restaurant. He walks back there, followed by his chef son, Hassan. The kids think dad is crazy, but he arranges to buy the old place. The whole family works hard to clean it up and repair the building, living above the restaurant.
But, across the road is a famous French restaurant, Le Saule Pleurer (The Weeping Willow) where Marguerite works. It is run by Madame Mallory, played by Helen Mirren (The Queen; Prime Suspect). There is the inevitable war, the classy restaurant snubbing the newcomers, trying to rid the road of the foreign element.
Cross-cultural experience between the two factions, a relationship between Marguerite and Hassan, and the competitive game between Papa Kadam and Madame Mallory make up the rest of the story. “Food is memory” becomes a key theme, as we watch people savoring bites of their treasured cultural recipes. Late in the movie, memory is juxtaposed against the innovation of big-city restaurants.
The film is rated PG and is suitable for all ages. But do eat first, or you’ll be hungry after having savored so many scenes of cooking and close ups of such luscious food!